After a slow start, summer is finally here to enjoy
Summer seems barely to have started yet we have already passed the longest day. It was a long, cold winter and a surprisingly long cold and dry spring here in the east of Scotland. Seed sowing went on hold until conditions were favourable.
However, things are catching up and there are few patches of bare earth on most of our plots. Potato shaws are meeting between the rows.
Broad bean pods are nearly ready and climbing beans are twining round their wigwam supports.
Those plotholders with early strawberries are already picking them. Mine are still green but something to look forward to.
It can be easy to get overwhelmed with harvesting, preserving and freezing and forget that there are still many happy months on the plot to come.
Autumn and winter vegetables bring their own pleasures. Oriental vegetables such as pak choi have a nasty habit of running to seed quickly if they’re planted too early in the year. They do much better after the summer solstice.
I am hoping to repeat last year’s success with American Land Cress. In my childhood, I remember greengrocers having bowls of water containing bunches of watercress. Today watercress is more likely to be found, ready washed and rather expensive, in little bags at the supermarket.
I’ve found that home grown Land Cress is a very acceptable alternative and I can pick the quantities I want. It seems to grow well if it’s well-watered and sown in partial shade as a catch crop filling in odd spaces when earlier vegetables are finished.
Leeks have thrived around our site in Musselburgh for nearly 200 years. We seem to have the right soil and climate for them.
This is the time of year when I transplant those I’ve grown from seed earlier in the year into spaces left after early potatoes have been dug.
It’s still possible to buy young plants in garden centres if you haven’t started them off yourself. Planting them is so easy and an activity easily shared with children and grandchildren.
Waiting for a cool day and damp soil is best. Then, using a dibber or the handle of a rake, make a row of deep holes and just plop each seedling in a hole. The holes don’t need filling in as the soil will just fall in over the following days. A sprinkle of water from the can will help settle the roots down if it doesn’t look like rain.
Today watercress is more likely to be found in little bags at the supermarket